Putting Huawei's Mate 20 Pro to the Ultimate Battery Test

Here's a scenario you're probably familiar with: It's late afternoon, you're having a productive day, getting all the things done, when you suddenly realize your phone's battery is almost dead. You have another 30 minutes at work before you're meeting friends for an evening out. What do you do?

By now you've probably heard of Huawei's latest flagship, the Mate 20 Pro, which recently launched with great fanfare in London. It's a seriously impressive handset that packs a bunch of class-leading features, including a triple rear camera co-developed with Leica, a Face ID-like depth sensing front camera, an in-display fingerprint sensor, and the first 7-nanometer chip on any Android phone. But it's the battery tech that really stands out, thanks to some leading edge specs.

First, the Mate 20 Pro incorporates a 4200mAh battery. That's a big cell, considering the size of the device. For comparison, Samsung's Galaxy S9+ uses a 3500mAh battery in a body that's almost the exact same dimensions. Sure, there are other Android flagships out there with 4000+mAh cells, but it's far from common, and these are usually physically larger devices. This also means you're much less likely to run out of juice by late afternoon if you're rocking a Mate 20 Pro in the first place.

Then there's charging speed. While iPhones ship with a 5W charger, Huawei's been putting 25W SuperCharge tech in its top handsets for a while now. It's fast, but the Mate 20 Pro features the company's new 40W SuperCharge tech, which is even quicker. A 30-minute session with the supplied 40W charger results in a whopping 70-percent charge. Compare this to the previous champ, the OnePlus 6, which charges to 50 percent in 30 minutes. In the above scenario, you'd be leaving work with a well-charged Mate 20 Pro.

Wireless charging is quickly becoming standard on flagship phones these days and Huawei is bringing an exciting new twist. The Mate 20 Pro features 15W Wireless Quick Charge, which is still pretty rare among Qi-enabled devices, and charges to 12 percent in 10 minutes or 30 percent in 30 minutes. That's nice, but what will really liven up the party is Wireless Reverse Charging. Yes, your Mate 20 Pro also turns into a Qi-enabled wireless charger, so you can share some of that battery love with your iPhone and Galaxy toting friends.

So, what makes this amazing battery tech possible? For the Mate 20 Pro, Huawei's patented a new lithium-ion battery that uses nitrogen-doped carbon and silicon materials in the anode instead of the usual graphite. This allows better lithium-ion migration, which in turn increases cell density, enables faster charging, and improves battery life. It's also safer, and the entire system—from charger to cable to battery to device — is TÜV Rheinland Safety Certified, which is one of the highest safety standards in the world.